New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D) ripped into Gov. Chris Christie (R) for vetoing legislation extending marriage right to gays and lesbians in a piece published on Saturday on the Huffington Post and pledged to “override the veto.” Describing Christie’s decision as “[d]riven by national ambition that would rather seem him be president (or vice president) than do what is right,” Sweeney called the governor’s conditional veto — which would appoint an Ombudsman to ensure that the state’s existing civil unions law is being properly enforced — an “embarrassment.” “Governor Christie was actually advocating for a taxpayer-paid position whose main function would be to continue our state’s failed policy of discrimination,” Sweenedy wrote. “The governor would have been better off simply vetoing the bill — his new conditions are frankly an embarrassment.”

Last week, an Arizona House Committee approved a bill requiring even the poorest students to pay a minimum of $2,000 per year to attend public university in the Grand Canyon State.

Arizona Republicans took up the measure, HB 2675, after hearing that nearly half of students at Arizona State University did not pay tuition in the 2009-10 school year, whether due to financial aid need or scholarships. In reality, “[t]he most current figure is closer to 25 percent, said Christine Thompson, the regents’ vice president of government relations.”

Though approximately 100 Arizona college students showed up at the committee hearing to voice their concern that HB 2675 would make it harder to graduate, Rep. Michelle Ugenti (R) had pointed words for them: “welcome to life.” The Arizona Republic has more:

About 100 students signed in to oppose the bill, and a handful spoke out against it. James Allen, UA student-body president, told legislators that by passing the bill, legislators would make it harder to achieve a higher-education degree.

Rep. Michelle Ugenti, R-Scottsdale, replied, “Welcome to life.”

A few minutes later, Rep. Matt Heinz, D-Tucson, admonished his colleagues for their comments.

“I feel these students are being greeted with open hostility,” said Heinz, who later voted against the bill.

Despite the students’ protest, the House Appropriations Committee narrowly passed the bill on Wednesday, 7-6. It did not earn a single Democratic vote.

Tuition at the three public universities in Arizona is already above the national average, thanks to recent “sharp tuition increases.” Nevertheless, the University of Arizona voted last April to raise tuition rates again, this time requiring students to pay an additional $1,800 during the 2011-12 school year.

Rick Santorum, appearing on ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos, made waves with his assertion that he “[doesn’t] believe in an America where the seperation between church and state is absolute.” But, having taken issue with the view espoused by Thomas Jefferson, the Supreme Court and reflected in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, Santorum showed a remarkable lack of respect for the traditions and values of religions other than his own.

Responding to a question from Stephanopoulos, Santorum disagreed with President Obama’s decision to issue an apology after it emerged on Tuesday that copies of the Quran had been burned with garbage at Bagram Air Field, a U.S. base north of Kabul. “This is unacceptable, the idea that a mistake was made, clearly a mistake, which we should not have apologized for,” said Santorum. Stephanopoulos pressed Santorum on why he found the apology unacceptable:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But if it was a mistake, isn’t apologizing the right and smart thing to do?

RICK SANTORUM: Well, again, it suggests that there is somehow blame, this is somehow that we did something wrong in the sense of doing a deliberate act wrong. I think it shows that we are — that I think it shows weakness.

Watch it:

Indeed, Santorum is correct that the inadvertent burning of Qurans doesn’t justify the more than 30 deaths from violence and suicide attacks across Afghanistan over the past week. But apologizing has been part of a U.S. effort to relieve tensions and appeal for calm across Afghanistan. The surge in violence since Tuesday has posed a serious challenge for NATO forces and Afghan President Hamid Karzai as NATO forces have drawn down and Afghan security forces take a “lead” role in combat operations.

Santorum doesn’t have a whole lot of crebility in talking about the Quran given that he once thought it was written in “Islamic.” But his assertion that U.S. forces had nothing to apologize for dovetails with his broader views on Islam. Last week, Santorum argued that “The idea that the Crusades and the fight of Christendom against Islam is somehow an aggression on our part is absolutely anti-historical,” and told a restaurant in South Carolina, “[Equality] doesn’t come from Islam. It doesn’t come from the East and Eastern religions, where does it come from? It comes from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that’s where it comes from.”

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) asked a federal judge in 2008 to pass a lenient sentence on bribery suspect Thomas Kontogiannis, according to a report in the New York Daily News. Grimm asked a California judge to pass a “noncustodial” sentence, which would not require jail time, on Kontogiannis, who was conviced of funneling $1 million in bribes to Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-CA). As Grimm, who had recently retired as an FBI agent and had not yet entered Congress, noted in a three-page letter, Kontogiannis “consistently provided me with whatever I asked for to assist me in brandishing the appropriate ‘props’ to ensure my cover,” and “has learned a newfound respect for the latter of the law.” The judge rejected the leniency argument and Kontogiannis was sentenced to eight years in prison. Cunningham resigned from the House in November 2005 and was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for accepting bribes.

The expansion of marriage to gays and lesbians has prevented at least one chapel from going out of business, the Times Herald Record reports. Paul Joffe purchased Celebration Chapel in Kingston, New York in 2005 in hopes that the legislature would pass marriage equality and he could open the venue to serve the LGBT community. But progress took longer than expected and after six years, “he put the chapel up for sale” and “almost lost all hope.” Fortunately, the legislature pushed through the measure in the summer of 2011, just before he sold the space, and — after taking down all the ‘for sale’ signs — Joffe opened the chapel on the first legal day of same-sex marriage, July 24, 2011. Since then, he’s received “three to five inquiries a week” and is “taking bookings a year in advance.” New York estimates that there have been at least 2,376 same-sex marriages in state since July 24.

Republicans on the campaign trail have long bashed President Barack Obama’s environmental regulations. This week the battle moves to the courtroom, where several industries and GOP lawmakers are trying to overturn the administration’s rules for reducing greenhouse gases.

In the lead case, the plaintiffs are challenging the EPA’s finding that such greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. That finding formed the basis for agency rules that imposed greenhouse-gas-emissions standards on cars beginning with the 2012 model year and set initial rules on permits for power plants and factories.

Beginning Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear two days of arguments on that case and three others involving challenges to those rules. The court often is considered the second most influential in the U.S. after the Supreme Court.

At the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, an experimental plot was in full flower on a recent February afternoon, as the thermometer edged toward 60.

The Japanese camellias, which typically bloom in early spring, have displayed their rose-hued flowers continuously since December. Honeybees, a rarity before late March, were nursing the tiny pink clusters on a Dawn viburnum, while the Adonis amurensis, a ground-hugging spring ephemeral, was a profusion of yellow.

“This is the earliest I’ve seen all of these things in flower,” said Todd Forrest, the garden’s vice president for horticulture and living collections. “The ground isn’t even frozen. That’s shocking.”

Farm workers swing their sickles through red branches, bundling them up before laying them out in the sunshine to dry.

The annual harvest at Groenkol Rooibos tea estate, in South Africa’s Western Cape helps quench the world’s growing thirst for “red bush” tea, but farmers fear that climate change could destroy the delicate eco-system that their crop depends on.

Annual exports of rooibos have quadrupled in the last 13 years. The tea is popular for its perceived health benefits as well as its refreshing taste and has become a trendy drink in many countries. It contains no caffeine and just a tiny amount of tannin.

But rooibos tea only grows in this Western Cape region — nowhere else in the world.

“Rooibos is endemic to this area, it grows wild here and only here,” said Chris Du Plessis, who runs Elandsberg Eco Tourism.

Hear the sound of chewing out in our vast forests of lodgepole pine, spruce and fir, the chewing that’s already destroyed half the commercial timber in important regions like British Columbia? That’s the sound of climate change, says biologist Reese Halter. Global warming in the form of a bark beetle.

Halter’s short but disturbing new book, “The Insatiable Bark Beetle,” addresses one of the biggest and most visible issues facing global forests, and particularly the relatively large forests left in the U.S. and Canada. As winters grow warmer and summers drier, the West’s evergreen forests are being eaten alive. And the infestation is not showing any signs of slowing.

The most disturbing part? Halter puts the blame squarely on climate change, of which the infestations are not only a symptom but a cause – a feedback loop. “The beetles have taken a crucial terrestrial system that absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2) – what’s known in biological parlance as a ‘carbon sink’ – and turned it into a ‘carbon source,’” Halter writes. “Over the next decade, the beetle-killed BC forests will emit 250 million metric tons of CO2 – the equivalent of five years of car and light truck emissions in Canada.”

In Washington, DC, the fight over the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline mostly divides common enemies: Republicans and Democrats; environmentalists and fossil fuel interests; big business and the federal bureaucracy.

But though the project exists in a state of suspended animation, TransCanada — the company that wants to connect the tar sands in Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico — is preparing to build anyhow. In particular, on the portion of the pipeline that would link Nebraska to Texas, TransCanada has threatened to use disputed eminent domain powers to condemn privately held land, over the owners’ objections. And that’s creating unusual allies — Occupiers, Tea Partiers, environmentalists, individualists — united to stop TransCanada from threatening water supplies, ancient artifacts, and people’s basic property rights.

In 2007 TransCanada’s agents at Universal Field Services approached Randy Thompson, 64, of Martell, NE, asking to survey his farm land. Thompson assented at first, under the assumption that he’d have final say over whether a Canadian company would be allowed to build anything on his property.

The finding is based on data from eBird, a database containing 10 years’ worth of observations from amateur birdwatchers. Since 2002, eBird has collected more than 48 million bird observations from roughly 35,000 contributors.

Billions of pounds’ worth of investment in Britain’s energy infrastructure is on hold or uncertain because of concerns over the government’s commitment to wind energy.

In an exclusive survey, the heads of some of the world’s biggest wind companies, which have been considering setting up factories, research facilities and other developments in the UK, have told the Guardian they are reviewing their investments or seeking clarification and reassurances from ministers on future energy policy in the wake of growing political opposition to wind energy that culminated in this month’s unprecedented attack on the government’s policies in a letter signed by more than 100 Tory MPs.

General Electric (GE) Energy’s managing director, Magued Eldaief, told the Guardian his company’s proposed wind manufacturing investment – amounting to at least £100m directly but worth much more in its knock-on effect to the economy – was “on hold” pending ministers’ decisions on future reforms to the energy market.

Welcome to ThinkProgress Economy’s morning link roundup. This is what we’re reading. Have you seen any interesting news? Let us know in the comments section. You can also follow ThinkProgress Economy on Twitter.

Berkshire Hathaway head Warren Buffett has chosen his successor at the company, but won’t say who he or she is. [Wall Street Journal]

Governors split over effects of Obama’s health-care law: This year, the National Governor’s Association “health committee met in a collegial fashion and never once mentioned the law that many Republicans derisively call Obamacare and many Democrats consider a major progressive milestone. Instead, both Obama’s assistant health secretary, Howard Koh, and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a major opponent who sued to block the law, focused Sunday on what they could agree on: cutting medical suffering and costs by encouraging disease prevention and healthier lifestyle choices.” [WP]

Is the law hurting Obama politically? “The health care overhaul that President Obama intended to be the signature achievement of his first term instead has become a significant problem in his bid for a second one, uniting Republicans in opposition and eroding his standing among independents.” [USA Today]

GOP thinks so, to refocus on Obamacare repeal: “House Republicans are planning renewed attacks against President Obama’s healthcare reform law to coincide with Supreme Court arguments next month. The high court will hear challenges to the law’s individual mandate and Medicaid expansion for six hours over three days, starting March 26. House Republicans are planning to ride the renewed focus on the law to chip away at controversial provisions, a leadership aide told The Hill, including its cost-control panel – the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB – that some Republicans have labeled a ‘death panel.’” [The Hill]

5 questions about Obamacare’s birth control mandate: Are male-based contraceptive methods, such as vasectomies or condoms, covered by the rule? Are over-the-counter products like female condoms, spermicides, sponges covered by the rules and, if so, will they require a prescription and how will insurers reimburse policyholders for purchases at retail stores? [Kaiser Health News]

Democrat booed over contraception requirement: ” Representative Kathy Hochul (D – 26th District) was booed at her own town hall meeting on Friday morning in Lancaster. The packed crowd was critical of Hochul for supporting President Obama’s plan to require religiously affiliated employers, such as hospitals and schools, to provide full contraception coverage to female employees.” [WGRZ]

Washington could be first to require abortion coverage: “Fifteen states have passed laws restricting insurers from covering abortions and 12 others are considering similar measures. By contrast, a bill that has passed Washington’s House and is working its way through the Senate would make the state the first to require all health-insurance plans under its jurisdiction — except those claiming a conscience-based exemption — to include abortion coverage.” [AP]

Vermont House passes exchanges legislation: “The Vermont House has given final approval to a bill that sets up a state-run health insurance marketplace in two years. Employees of businesses with 50 or fewer workers would be required to get insurance on the health benefits exchange, either through their employer or on their own.” [AP]

To my mind, it’s Asghar Farhadi, who won the Best Foreign Language Film award for A Separation, and marked the occasion with by far the classiest, most meaningful speech of the evening, one that far surpassed much of the foreign policy discussions on how to approach the relationship between his country, Iran, and the United States. He told the audience:

At this time, many Iranian all over the world are watching us and I imagine them to be very happy. They are happy not just because of an important award or a film or filmmaker, but because at the time when talk of war, intimidation and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of their country Iran is spoken here through her glorious culture. A rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics. I proudly offer this award to the people of my country. A people who respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment.

One of the best things art can do is expose who we are, in all our beauty and ugliness, and remind us of what we’re capable of being. And in this case, it was also a brave act. Farhadi’s been wearing a necktie most of this awards season in a subtle rebuke to the Iranian regime’s suggestion that it’s a decadent Western accessory, and tonight, some commentators suggest that his speech could prevent him from returning to Iran or make life uncomfortable for him when he got back there. That’s a real risk for an award that carries less benefit than a Best Actor or Best Director statuette. Farhadi should be an example to politically engaged artists—and to politicians—everywhere.